My Tank Leak/Crash

jkentfite

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Just sharing my sob story. Exactly one week ago my double deep 200 gallon sprung a leak. Big one.

Fortunately my wife was home to notice and I was able to recruit the help of my LFS while I was at work to help empty the tank post haste and set up a 100 gallon temporary tub in my garage.

Now things get... Ugh. Ugly. I mistakenly left the power heads off to the makeshift tub tank the next night and lost 90% of my fish overnight.

I’m heartbroken. But fortunately I had already planned to upgrade and my custom 8ft 475 gallon tank from C2C is already built and ships next week.

But looks like I’ll be (mostly) starting over. Plenty of corals made it but as far as fish - only 2 clownfish, 2 wrasse (leopard and melanurus) and a yellow watchman goby survived. I’m mostly saddened by the loss of my hippo and purple tangs, blotched anthia and copperband butterfly (who would eat from my hand).

Give me your best ideas for my restart fish family. TIA.

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vetteguy53081

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Sorry to hear. In A moment of panic, we all overlook certain things
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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regarding your best chance of reassembly:

I dont say this to beat a dead horse. Im relaying the info because it comes from literally the only work thread I know of on the web regarding tank transfers/ deep cleans and rebuilds


you must start with either all new sand or one thousand percent tap rinsed current sand, nothing in the middle.

no, the bacteria aren't harmed.


if you start with unrinsed current sand, or lightly rinsed, you have about a 10% chance of causing a recycle in the new tank, all likelihood is that will be fine. ten pct says it wont, unrinsed sand re used is dangerous. You stratified it for a while in maturation, then in the emergency mode it had to be de-stratified and that calls for specific action, which is rinse the sand for hours in tap water until its laser clean

then final rinse in ro, then the sand is ready for re use in the new tank.

but even if you 90% succeed without a deep clean, you have 90% chance now of new invasions in the assembled large tank that will wreck it soon with carry over waste, destratification and upwelling caused...



the reason only one thread exists for 200 jobs with the same outcome is because we haven't been customizing the approach very much at all, its always tap rinsed sand. even if that seems wierd, no alternate pattern threads to seek out.



set up your rocks fish corals on that sand, w new water, and it will 100% skip cycle.

either use all new sand, which you pre rinsed in tap water for hours until truly clear, then RO, or use your current sand and do the same to it.

If you customize the approach we still want to track the outcome in our fix thread, very big $ job here with a ton of sensitive animals in tow.

the cleaner you reassemble, the safer your fish are. The dirtier you re-assemble, due to concerns over bacteria, the more likely to be harmed they are. very easy choice.

sand=cleaned 100% then new system is great

if you buy new sand, wet bagged live sand, its still tap rinsed for hours till clear then RO then used.


and if you keep your current sand, the exact same.

lastly, in your new re assembly you have to re ramp up the lights, not run the same levels of intensity you do now, like when the LED's were new.
 
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schuby

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I'm sorry for your loss.

I know the heart-ache of losing full-grown fish that you've kept for several years. I once left my return pumps off overnight, after feeding phyto after lights were off. The next morning, all fish (including several large tangs) were dead on the bottom, except for maybe a clownfish or two. It was terrible.
 
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jkentfite

jkentfite

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Thank you for saying so. It’s a terrible feeling
I'm sorry for your loss.

I know the heart-ache of losing full-grown fish that you've kept for several years. I once left my return pumps off overnight, after feeding phyto after lights were off. The next morning, all fish (including several large tangs) were dead on the bottom, except for maybe a clownfish or two. It was terrible.
 
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jkentfite

jkentfite

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regarding your best chance of reassembly:

I dont say this to beat a dead horse. Im relaying the info because it comes from literally the only work thread I know of on the web regarding tank transfers/ deep cleans and rebuilds


you must start with either all new sand or one thousand percent tap rinsed current sand, nothing in the middle.

no, the bacteria aren't harmed.


if you start with unrinsed current sand, or lightly rinsed, you have about a 10% chance of causing a recycle in the new tank, all likelihood is that will be fine. ten pct says it wont, unrinsed sand re used is dangerous. You stratified it for a while in maturation, then in the emergency mode it had to be de-stratified and that calls for specific action, which is rinse the sand for hours in tap water until its laser clean

then final rinse in ro, then the sand is ready for re use in the new tank.

but even if you 90% succeed without a deep clean, you have 90% chance now of new invasions in the assembled large tank that will wreck it soon with carry over waste, destratification and upwelling caused...



the reason only one thread exists for 200 jobs with the same outcome is because we haven't been customizing the approach very much at all, its always tap rinsed sand. even if that seems wierd, no alternate pattern threads to seek out.



set up your rocks fish corals on that sand, w new water, and it will 100% skip cycle.

either use all new sand, which you pre rinsed in tap water for hours until truly clear, then RO, or use your current sand and do the same to it.

If you customize the approach we still want to track the outcome in our fix thread, very big $ job here with a ton of sensitive animals in tow.

the cleaner you reassemble, the safer your fish are. The dirtier you re-assemble, due to concerns over bacteria, the more likely to be harmed they are. very easy choice.

sand=cleaned 100% then new system is great

if you buy new sand, wet bagged live sand, its still tap rinsed for hours till clear then RO then used.


and if you keep your current sand, the exact same.

lastly, in your new re assembly you have to re ramp up the lights, not run the same levels of intensity you do now, like when the LED's were new.
Thanks for the advice. I plan on getting the sand clean before restart.
 

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